it's so crazy that even years later y'all still read these books.. perhaps it's a new audience but some of y'all aren't newbies so, i hope you enjoy what i've been writing so far.

Leo's POV

I sit on the bed and think.

I know my life is real. The things I went through, the things I felt-- all of that was real. It has to be.

If my memories aren't real, how can I trust myself. Anything and everything could be fake.

Perhaps all of this is some strange delusion of mine. Maybe I'm in a deep dream. Maybe I've really lost it and I'm in a institution right now.

I wish this wasn't real. I wish I could just open my eyes and be somewhere else. Somewhere that makes me different. Somewhere that I'm different that now.

I sigh and lay on my back.

Eyes closed, I take a deep breath.

I wish I was across the country. Out of the country. Maybe Spain. Brazil. Somewhere far from here.

I wish I was normal and just like anyone else. I wish my mom lived with me, just the two of us. I wish my family wasn't insane.

I open my eyes and think about the adults here that are Percy's parents. I want family like that. My family's horrible. They're monsters. Unless they happen to be right about me, then I'm a monster.

I could be just like them. Maybe I belong with them. They wouldn't have let any of this happen, that's for sure. I wouldn't be in this strange situation. I'd be completely controlled of course, but if that's the price to finally be normal then it seems worth it.

Running away isn't normal. Dodging cops isn't normal. Being alone isn't normal. Never taking things seriously isn't normal. It's signs of trouble and it creates problems that I'm also running from. Running away never solves anything it just creates new things to deal with.

It's a distraction. I can't run away forever, at least while I'm underage, but for now it's the biggest distraction from any problems at any home. No time to think about aggression in the home when you need figure out to survive the night without freezing, being mugged, or worse.

The door opens and I sit up quick.

It's Percy.

He gives me a smile and sits next to me. "Good morning."

His eyes bright, hair messy, voice hoarse.

"Hi." I reply.

"How'd you sleep?" He leans back on one hand and rubs his eyes.

"Can I ask you something?" My eyes contemplate the door.

"Sure, sure. What's up?"

"Do you hate yourself?"

He clears his throat. "I hope not. I mean, I feel like everyone dislikes something about themselves but usually I'm aware that I'm too hard on myself. I know I don't hate myself, there's just moments I forget a little. People who love you help you remember what there is to love."

"If you had the choice to not be you, would you take it?" My fingers numbed from the caffeine remain still.

Percy's sighs and looks at the ceiling. "Leo you have no idea how much I've thought about being anyone but me. What if I was a normal kid? What if I didn't have this huge pressure on my shoulders.. But no I still want to be me."

Percy's lays facing up and I copy him, staring at the ceiling. "There's millions of other people doing what they're gonna do. I'm the only me doing what I can do right now. You see what I'm saying? No one else will ever be me. As much as people seem the same, they're still different. Also being normal is overrated."

"Being normal is the best you, you can be." I correct him, annoyed. "You don't need to think about this if you're normal, you don't need to worry about being yourself because if you're normal then everyone else is you."

Percy shakes his head and eyes me. "Well, there's nothing wrong with being normal. I don't think it's better than-"

"Being a freak?" I interrupt, sitting up.

He squints his eyes and hesitates before answering. "I don't see people as freaks, I see them as different."

I scoff at that and cross my arms. "That is such bullshit. My body literally creates flames and to a very realistic extent I don't have control of it. I'm a freak and there's definitely something unnatural about it. It's my body's abnormality has been proven to be a danger to society. I can't ever have a normal life and that's because I'm a freak, but you're saying having a normal life isn't better than accidentally killing people."

Percy is sitting up and staring at me. "Leo you can have a normal life. Even though you are different, you aren't alone."

I feel a cold smile form at the stupidity of that statement. "Of course I am alone, I choose to be."

His leg shakes and but his eyes are sharp and focused. "Leo, let me take you to my camp."

"So you can murder me and hide my body deep in the middle of nowhere?" Scoffing, I lean against the wall.

"You trust us, there's a part of you that trusts us. That's why you're still here or else you would've been gone already. You just don't understand but if you trust us then let me introduce you to my camp. You'll trust them too, I guarantee it. And maybe while you're there you'll understand why you trust us."

I don't answer and after a moment goes by he taps his temple. "It might fill a lot of those empty gaps in your memory."

A surge of emotion stirs in my chest and I clear my throat. "My memory is there it's just unclear at times."

"I promise you, if you still don't trust us after you meet the people at camp and talk to people about your true memories you can go. In fact, I'd want you to get on with your own life because that would mean there's no hope our friend is coming back." Percy suggests and shrugs at the last comment.

Maybe this will give me answers as to why I feel an undeserved trust to these people. Or at the very least, some type of confirmation that my memories are true.

I study the bed sheets with my arms crossed. Why would they murder me there when they've already had so many chances, it doesn't make sense. Not all of them are bad.

And I have to be completely honest with myself, I want to go. I want to see this camp they've talked about and I want to see this through. This is the weirdest experience of my life and I can't explain why I gave these people a second glance.

It's like there's something apart of me that won't let go to them. I just need to be careful if that's my self destructive side or a side that'll end up bettering my entire life.

"Uhm, Leo?"

I look him in the eyes. "Alright, when's the soonest we can leave?" I definitely somehow know him, if even in a dream. "But let's be clear I'm only going to prove you're a nut job and once and for all, that you don't know me."

"Awesome!" Percy gets off the bed. "And you're right, you've totally changed we don't know you."

"We both know, you know us." He smiles and I would never agree with him, of course, felt weird about not smiling back.